Reunions
by Fusion Queen
Summary: Three years ago a fire destroyed the Collin's house and supposedly killed Alyssa Collins. A new girl, Claire Danvers, arrives in Morganville running from abusive foster parents. She doesn't have memories beyond the last three years and when she arrives in Morganville she can't help feeling she had been there before, which she hadn't...or had she? Claire/Alyssa but not pairing.
1. Chapter 1

Morganville, miles away from home and yet it seemed...almost familiar somehow. As far as she knew though she had never been here in her life, though that wasn't saying much as all she knew was the last three years. Everything before that was a loss though she doubted it was any good if she couldn't remember it. Not that her life since she could remember was any better with foster parents who constantly abused her, verbally and physically. And lately, her foster father had even started taking it farther. Well as of late as six months ago.

Claire was on the run now, running from all the pain that her so called home represented. At first it was going pretty well as she had saved all of what little money she could get for a little over a year. She didn't know just how much it took to eat and travel as she went where her heart led her, which was here in Morganville. It cost a lot of money, more than she had planned on and the last leg of her journey was a two week walk while learning from a couple of homeless on the way how to find good food in the dumpsters. While it was disgusting, it was also something to feed her hungry stomach and stay alive. Something she wasn't sure why she bothered doing. She may have been a genius, but that was only book smarts while street smarts was something she had very little of.

Sighing as her stomach growled loudly as she looked through the main drag of the town passing through some of the more popular seeming restaurants looking for some of the less popular places. They always had good food to throw out when people didn't buy them. It always sat too long and passed the throw out time because there wasn't enough customers to buy it all up. It was a loss for the place but a gain for her.

As she looked around though she noticed that something seemed off about the way people gave her funny looks before hurrying away from her. There were even a few mothers hurrying their children away from her. She was used to people shunning her, a dirty homeless girl, but they usually just ignored her. These people almost acted as if they were afraid of her. Deciding her stomach was more important than worrying about a bunch of rude people, she mentally flicked them off as she found her target, a small coffee shop called common grounds. It was a little busy, but coffee shops always had good snacks if not food.

A couple minutes later she had a cookie that looked like someone took one bite out of it hanging out of her mouth as she looked through the bag more hoping for something more. Something more filling than a chocolate chip cookie...even if it was good. Very good in fact.

"Excuse me." An annoyed voice said startling Claire into dropping the cookie back down into the open bag. With a sigh she grabbed it back before turning to see...what the hell did she see? Was that white make up, black lipstick and a dress that looked more like something that belonged on a doll with a pair of heavy looking boots?

"Umm, hi..." Claire said while giving the girl a weak smile as she realized that the other girl must have been what was called a goth. She's heard of them, but never saw one. Despite spending all of her free time she could away from the house studying at the library, that's all she really did was study. When she used the internet it was for strictly studying, she never used it to look anything up that didn't have anything to do with what she was studying. She wanted to learn as much as she could to help get away from her so called parents, but when the bastard starting doing things to her...She just couldn't stay any longer.

"Hi, nice look you have going there." The girl said giving a small smile to Claire. "My name's Eve.

"Claire." Claire said before hiding the cookie behind her back nervously.

"Relax, I'm not going to take it from you." Eve said, her voice taking on an even sadder tone. "Look sweetie, do you have somewhere to stay for the night?"

"No, I just got into town." Claire said as she shook her head.

"I thought so. You can't stay out on the street. In fact, you shouldn't even stay in Morganville sweetie." Eve said running her fingers through her hair. "You can stay with me at our house tonight, it's getting too late for you to do much else. Tomorrow, you need to leave though, it's just too dangerous here. I wouldn't even stay if I had somewhere else to go or I could get away..."

"You sound as if you are a prisoner here." Claire sighed as she looked up at the girl wondering if she could trust her.

"There'll be a warm meal and you can get cleaned up." Eve said which settled Claire's internal debate.

"Are you sure it will be okay?" Claire asked nervously.

"Yeah, and I'll kick Shane and Michael's asses if they say anything." Eve said taking Claire's arm, sliding down making her let her arm fall in front of her where the goth girl plucked the cookie from her fingers and tossed it back in the dumpster. "I'll buy us some fresh to take home with us."

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I don't own Morganville no matter how much wishing I do, Rachel Caine does. This is a sneak peak at a story idea I have been thinking about and I hope you like it. Let me know what you think about it so far.


	2. Chapter 2

Well, here's chapter two. I know Claire has dark hair, and she does in this story as well. Only thing is it's dyed at the moment. I believe I'm going to concentrate on this story since I'm pretty much getting everything figured out on what I want to do with this story. Hope you enjoy.

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"So sweetie, how old are you?" Eve asked as Claire leaned against the passenger door watching out the window, enjoying the coolness of the glass against her skin.

"I'm sixteen, almost seventeen." Claire said softly before realizing telling the girl may be a bad idea. She sighed as the car came to life, the engine rumbling a little making Claire wonder if it was supposed to make that noise. Now Eve may call the police and Claire could not afford that as she refused to go back. She didn't spend all her time studying to reach college graduate level just to be someone's punching bag and toy, especially to her supposed foster father. She never hated two people as much as she hated him and her foster mother.

"Soooo...where's your parents then?" Eve asked as she pushed the bag into Claire's hands. As Claire looked at her, Eve nodded encouragingly making the younger blonde haired girl smile slightly before pulling a cookie out of the bag and biting into it. It tasted to good, the chocolate chips just melting in her mouth as Eve pulled the car out and onto the road.

"They...They're dead. They were killed." Claire said feeling ashamed that she was lying to this girl who seemed to want to help her. She couldn't tell the truth though, she was more ashamed of what she went through the last three years since she woke up in the care of her foster parents.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry. Was it the...you know?" Eve asked as she glanced at Claire before looking back out the front keeping her eyes on the road.

"The what?" Claire asked confused.

"No, couldn't be since you said you were new." Eve said shaking her head. "We'll talk more when we get home."

"Okay." Claire said as she finished her cookie and debated taking a second, but felt she would be selfish doing so.

"Sweetie, you can eat all you want, just save room for supper." Eve said making Claire smile, maybe just one more cookie wouldn't hurt.

The rest of the ride was pretty much in silence, though Eve kept looking at her, giving Claire strange looks. It was most likely pity, after all she knew how dirty she was and being homeless always drew one of two looks; pity or disgust. She was more used to disgust, but she also knew pity somewhat and while the look didn't exactly resemble pity the looks sure wasn't disgust.

The house they pulled up to wasn't exactly new looking or extremely well kept, but it looked homey and very comfortable. Claire wasn't sure what to do as they sat there, but when Eve put the car in park and turned it off Claire guessed that this was their destination. It was a rather large looking house and must have had plenty of space inside.

"Doesn't look the greatest on the outside, but it's actually really nice. In truth, it will be kind of nice to have another girl in the house for once. Shane and Michael are sweet, don't you dare tell Collins I said that, but too much testosterone." Eve said sending Claire a smile, "Lets go see if anyone is home."

"Okay." Claire replied, at a loss about what to say as Eve got out of the car. The blonde followed quickly, almost afraid that the darker haired goth girl would rescind the invitation if she didn't hurry up.

"Sweetie, the boys may seem a little overwhelming, but they mean well. They're good guys so just give them a chance." Eve said as she dug her keys out of her coffin shaped purse.

"Sure." Claire said as she began growing nervous at the upcoming meeting. She hoped that the guys would like her and let her stay the night and maybe at least she could have a warm bath. She sighed in ecstasy when she thought of actually being able to relax in a tub full of hot water after enjoying a warm meal. It didn't matter what the food was, but she would give anything for a real meal that didn't come from a trashcan at the moment.

As they walked into the house Claire was knocked back by the smell of something that she couldn't place. All she knew was that it smelled good and it smelled...familiar somehow.

"Yeah, forgot Collins was cooking tonight. Maybe I should have got us some takeout." Eve sighed, though there was a hint of a smile on her face.

"No, it smells good." Claire blurted out before blushing in embarrassment. "I mean...well, are you sure there is enough?"

"Plenty, he always makes enough for several days...not that it lasts that long with him." Eve laughed as she shook her head. Come on in and I'll introduce you and get us some chili, is coke good enough?"

"Serious? I've never had one...but I've always wanted to try one." Claire said growing excited, things were looking up for her even if it would only be one night. It was better to just live in the moment though because it kept her thoughts from going back on the streets.

"Seriously? Well you can have all you want here...well as long as we have them." Claire laughed as they entered into a room with a low table sitting in front of a couch where a young man with dark hair sat playing a video game. Of course Claire had seen them, not in person, but the advertisements for them was everywhere.

"Hey ghost girl, whose your friend?" The boy asked as he kept playing, not bothering to turn away from his game.

"Don't be rude Collins!" Eve snapped before smiling back at Claire. "This ape is Shane Collins. Collins, this is Claire Danvers. She'll be staying here tonight."

"Did you clear it with Mikey?" Shane asked as he finally turned to look at Claire. She had to admit, the boy was hot as in H-O-T hot. The look he gave her was unnerving the blonde as his jaw dropped slightly.

"Better not swallow a fly Collins." Eve giggled as she headed away. "Have a seat Claire and I'll bring us some food."

"I know I'm kind of dirty." Claire said nervously, feeling ashamed looking like this in front of this hot boy. She couldn't bring herself to look up at him as she just stared at the floor fighting back tears. She hated this, she never felt like this before and it hurt so much. Her feelings was like a maelstrom inside of her, raging like un untamed storm and she couldn't figure half of them. She recognized the shame and the urge to run, but what she didn't understand was the feeling of longing. Longing to be in his arms, but she wasn't sure if it was to kiss him...or just to be held...

"Hey, I'm sorry." Shane said softly as he moved to be in front of her, lifting her chin to look up into his soulful eyes that was full of some kind of...pain. Pain, it was another thing she knew as she saw it every time she looked in a mirror. For as long as she could remember she felt pain...the pain of being unloved and alone. The pain of being treated like a thing and not a person. The pain of being beaten for every imagined slight against her so called parents. "I didn't mean to offend you...You just look so familiar...And beautiful."

"I'm not beautiful, I'm ugly." Claire sighed as tears began to leak from her eyes despite trying her best to fight them off.

"Hey, I know beautiful and you are." Shane said again making Claire break down crying and throw herself in his arms as he hugged her to himself. For the first time she felt...safe. Safe and happy. She only wished she knew why.

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MrBoombastic: I hope you liked their meeting.

Guest: Well, Shane is a little shook up I think and we will see what happens with Michael in the next chapter.

swanlake 123: Thank you so much, I hope you liked the new chapter.

Soph: LOL, thank you so much and hope you liked the update.


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